Catholic Replies
Q. Could you please expand and clarify your statement that the number of demons can grow because of people who choose Hell over Heaven? You used the example of a demon who claimed to be the father of a possessed girl, whom he had molested, but can we believe the master of lies? — C.M.B., via e-mail.
A. One of the best sources on demons is the late Fr. Gabriel Amorth, former chief exorcist of Rome, who wrote two books on demonology: An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist: More Stories. In the latter book, Fr. Amorth wrote that once Satan rebelled against God, he was cast out of Heaven and “dragged behind him a number of angels as numerous as the stars of the planetary system. These angels willed to follow him, with full consent of the intellect and in freedom. Not satisfied with that, he is now attempting to drag along with him as many men as he can — again, with full consciousness and freedom” (p. 41).
Satan is still dragging men, and women, into Hell by their own free choice, and why wouldn’t he use them to try to harass former family members and friends and to recruit new members for his devilish band?
As for whether the exorcist can be sure that the demon is not lying about his name, Fr. Amorth says that is a possibility, and that the exorcist must carefully consider everything the demon says. He adds, however, that “at times the Lord orders the demon to speak the truth, to demonstrate that Satan has been defeated by Christ and has been forced to obey Christ’s followers who act in his name. Often the evil one admits that he is forced to speak, something that he avoids at all costs. For instance, he is humiliated when he is forced to reveal his name; it is a sign of defeat. Woe to the exorcist who asks questions out of curiosity. The Ritual itself expressly forbids it. Allowing the demon to lead the conversation would be just as imprudent! Precisely because he is the prince of lies, Satan is humiliated when God forces him to speak the truth” (p. 190).
In the first book mentioned above, Amorth says that “the most important demons have biblical names or names transmitted to us by tradition: Satan or Beelzebub, Lucifer, Asmodeus, Meridian, Zebulun. Other names more clearly tell us the purpose of their actions — Destruction, Perdition, Ruin — or they indicate individual evils — Insomnia, Terror, Discord, Envy, Jealousy, Sloth” (p. 116).
He says that these demons are the “heavyweights” and are tougher to defeat. They are also the last to leave when a person is possessed by several demons (cf. pp. 93-94).
Q. We are taught that by forgiving someone we are doing a great service to ourselves, to others, and to the Kingdom of God. But how do we know if we have truly forgiven someone? We can say with all sincerity, and feel in our hearts, that we have forgiven someone, and yet, at times it is almost impossible to forget the deed or deeds that led to this need to forgive. We may still have anger and resentment, particularly if the person has shown no remorse, and all trust has been lost. I want to forgive one person in particular, and I have said to God many times that I forgive that person. But I wonder if my heart, and God, truly understand this. — M.A., Washington State.
A. Your dilemma is one experienced by many others, but remember that forgiving a person does not mean forgetting what was done to you. We are sure that St. John Paul II never forgot that Mehmet Ali Agca tried to kill him in 1981, but the Holy Father went to his prison cell anyway and extended forgiveness to his would-be assassin.
If, as you say, that you sincerely feel in your heart that you have forgiven this person, but you still harbor anger and resentment against her, then perhaps you have not truly forgiven her, and it doesn’t matter whether she has shown any remorse or not. You don’t have to take this person out to dinner to demonstrate your forgiveness, but you do have to mean it.
If you have repeatedly told God that you forgive that person, then it’s time to move on. Keeping the matter in your mind is hurting you, not the other person, who may even have forgotten about the incident that is still troubling you.
Q. Bishop Bode of the German Synodal Way says regarding sexual orientation that “the basic message of the Church is God’s unconditional love for all people.” Yet Jesus said that no one would enter the Kingdom of God unless he does the will of the Father. So is the defiantly unrepentant sodomite, who insists that his sexual perversion is an integral part of himself and acts on it, still unconditionally loved by God and, if so, does this unconditional love extend to those in Hell due to unrepented mortal sin? — G.Y., via e-mail.
A. Looking at this from a human perspective, we find it hard to believe that one’s love could be unconditional. Usually, we expect someone to earn our love by doing good things for us. But God is love itself (cf. 1 John 4:8) and loves everyone and everything that He created. In the words of the Book of Wisdom: “For you love all things that are / and loathe nothing that you have made; / for what you hated, you would not have fashioned” (11:24).
While we impose conditions on those seeking our love, God does not. In the Letter to the Romans (5:6-8), St. Paul says that “for Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly. Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might find even courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” He proved His love even more, says St. John (1 John 4:9-10), by sending “his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.”
In other words, there is nothing that we can do to lose God’s love, not even by committing the most heinous sins. This does not mean, however, that God will not chastise us for our sins, or will not allow us to reject His love and choose an eternity in Hell. That’s the downside of free will, obstinately and persistently turning our backs on the God who wishes only eternal happiness for us. And yes, His unconditional love extends even to those in Hell since God’s love is everlasting and He can “loathe nothing” that He has made.
Q. I read somewhere that at the time of Jesus some of the Jewish people did decide to remain virgins, and that Joseph and Mary did this. Do you know a source that supports my recollection? — M.S., via e-mail.
A. In his Life of Christ, Giuseppe Ricciotti says that the ancient Hebrews “looked with no favor on the unmarried state” and considered “an unmarried woman . . . like a person without a head, ‘because the husband is head of the wife’.” So Mary yielded to the custom and was betrothed (married) to Joseph. But her intention to remain a virgin, says Ricciotti, “shows us the attitude of her spouse, Joseph, who would never have been accepted as such had he not agreed to respect Mary’s intentions” (p. 79).
While virginity was uncommon among the Jews, it was not unheard of. The prophet Jeremiah was celibate, as was John the Baptist, and celibacy was also practiced among the Essenes, the monks who lived on the shores of the Dead Sea in the first century (cf. Daily Life in the Time of Jesus by Henri Daniel-Rops, pp. 116-119).
